Thursday, August 30, 2012

Eye of the Tiger

“Geaux Tigers!” my daughter shouts at the TV. She excitedly runs into the family room,
grabs her stuffed tiger, her purple LSU hat, and her green and gold
pom-pom. (Yes, this Baylor graduate has
to at least try to make an attempt at
competing). We have our standard
background noise going, ESPN America. We
have many channels on our cable television, but of course, most of them are in
Dutch. We’ve caught glimpses of some
American channels such as the history and travel channels, toy around with
watching the BBC, and have disappointedly searched for sitcoms other than Home
Improvement and Frasier. So, usually, in
the evenings as I am preparing dinner and my husband is playing with the kids,
ESPN America is what’s on. This is not
quite the same as the ESPN we had at home, but rather, it’s an international
version. Many times, we are simply
looking for the lullaby of summer to accompany our evening: the relaxing noise
of a professional baseball game, something you would always find on ESPN at home.
While ESPN America sometimes airs a Tampa Bay Rays game?!?! (I don’t
think people who live in TampaBay
care, much less Expats around the world), ESPN America also inserts Little
League World Series games, Nascar races, and Xgame competitions during
primetime, which are all somewhat anti-climatic. There are no commercials on ESPN America, so
during the breaks, they air sports highlights and memorable moments from years
past. Currently they are gearing up for
the college football season, and unfortunately for my husband, will be playing
the LSU-Alabama National Championship 2011 highlights for months. (And for those readers
who may be unfamiliar, LSU played in the National Championship last winter
against arch-rival Alabama. LSU lost after an extremely sub-par performance
that most crazed-LSU fans would really rather forget). Nevertheless,
my daughter is extremely excited to see her favorite team lighting up the
living room television and my husband can do nothing but laugh at her
enthusiasm and pat himself on the back for brainwashing her at such a young age
despite my attempts of prevention.
(Sigh).

There’s a strange
feeling watching live daytime sports in the evenings, but then again, sometimes
ESPN America airs recorded evening games, which is just weird. Despite your desperate attempts, you never
quite have the lush, fuzzy feeling that you’re really partaking in something
other people are seeing and watching, and feeling connected. Coupled with
that, the Dutch do not celebrate American baseball or football, of course. And while we were here for the Euro cup,
watching our neighbor pack 16 of his closest friends onto his railing-less 2nd
floor porch outside our bedroom window, we just could not get into cheering for
European soccer. “Oh man, will someone
score already?! What do you mean it’s
OVER? It’s only 1-0? Geez man, where are the commercial breaks, I
need some popcorn, etc.”

Picnic Tables at Leiden Centraal

So, with that, you
can imagine my excitement that the Summer Olympics were being hosted in nearly
our time-zone. Sure, growing up in America,
you realize the “whole world is watching,” but to experience it was something different. The Leiden Centraal Station went all-out for
the event. They spent a week preparing
for the event and in the end, they had transformed the station into a
fantastically lovely recreation of a LondonPark. A green carpet stretched the length of the
station. The tables and stools were
covered with red and white checked vinyl.
Colorful birds and delicate butterflies hung from the light fixtures. Topiary plants had been sculpted into discus
throwers and other athletes. A tree with
8 colorful birdhouses and piped bird music greeted travelers on the west side
of the station. And to top of the
transformation, two humongous flatscreen televisions hung above the crowd,
poised to entertain. If you weren’t
excited about the Olympics before traveling in and out of Leiden Station, well
– you definitely caught the vibe.

My husband and I
were prepared for Opening Ceremonies – Kids were in bed and snacks of cheese,
crackers, fruit, with wine were on the coffee table. As the BBC coverage started an hour before
the event began, we viewed the members of the audience getting soaked. I looked outside our window. Yup.
Across the North Sea, it was raining here as
well. Luckily for them and us, the rain
stopped just before kick-off and we viewed our first live, truly international
event since we’d been here. I personally
thought the Opening Ceremonies were insightful, creative, intense, and
magical. I’m not sure of the reviews it
got around the world, but at the same time, I needed the event to be all these things. I felt connected – London
is only 221 miles from Amsterdam
(as the crow flies), which is like Dallas
to Austinand the coverage was in English.

Olympic Topiaries

Throughout the next
three weeks, we enjoyed the sounds of the swimmers splashing, the shot-putters
grunting, the audience cheering, the British commentating, the buzzers buzzing,
the start guns shooting, and the national anthems playing. We viewed all these things live, even before America
was off work. We walked to the train
station nearly everyday, just to experience the sights of everyone crowding
underneath the large screen television, to feel like this is perhaps, the one event that we can really all
understand and get excited about. Sure,
the big screen played events I’d never seen before (women’s field hockey?) but
it was equally as exciting.

The Games
ended. The decorations came down. A large sign communicated “See you in 2016”
and with that, life went back to normal:
Dutch and American, soccer and football.
I am glad I was here to experience the event.

V has already
researched the ESPN America college football coverage and to his delight, it
will be playing many of the LSU games.
Personally, I am a little excited about being able to see College
Gameday, and truth be told, I think it might be even better at 4:00 p.m., when our day is winding down, as
opposed to 9:00 a.m. when we need to
gear up to go to market and run errands around town. Living
in Dallas, a state away from most
of his closest friends, he always became a little bit crazy around this time of
year, which in turn, challenged my own sanity.
But after years of gaining understanding and perhaps, even being able to
say that I have successfully bridged a large gap and have some LSU friends as
well (not an easy accomplishment for a Baylor graduate), I too, am really excited
about the upcoming football season and the connection it provides us to “home”. So with that, you know we’ll be cheering from
our Dutch living room. Get your game
face on, Tigers. And eat some Cane’s chicken
for me!

No comments:

Post a Comment

About Me

Celeste is an American expat who has been living in Leiden, The Netherlands since January 2012. She made the leap from Texas with her husband, two small children, and two large dogs. She's an ex-accountant who has adapted to her new role as full-time-Mom (with a part-time job) in a new country. Eleanor Roosevelt's advice, "Do one thing every day that scares you," isn't necessarily optional in her daily life.